One of my good friends works as a 911 operator in Kansas City and he’s perfect for the job.
Cool, calm, collected, level-headed.
But even he’s told me that some of the calls he gets at work can be terrifying.
There’s no way I’d be able to that job…
911 operators shared the most disturbing calls they’ve received on AskReddit.
Prepare to be creeped out…
1. OMG.
“It was my second week, and I was plugged in with another dispatcher who was handling calls, and I was working the computer and stuff as part of my training.
We got a call from a guy in a car, who said that he was in a near accident with another driver, and the other driver was following him and being aggressive.
The dispatcher told him to turn around, and look for a well lit, busy place, like a gas station to stop, and we would have someone on the way to meet him there.
He was s**t 5 times while on the phone with us, waiting for the officer to arrive.
I found out the next day on the news that the guy flew in from out of town to walk his daughter down the aisle.”
2. Missing.
“At the beginning of my shift, I received a call from a very distraught man who’s dad had gone missing from his care facility. He had dementia and his dad thought he might be looking for a bar to get a drink.
I took his information and got a description, and put out a BOLO for him.
For these calls, we normally don’t find out the outcome. In this case, one of my last calls that same night, was a person calling who found a body on some train tracks, and it turned out to be the same guy I had put out the BOLO for.
I had to call the deputy who went and took the guy’s statement and tell him the news, and he then had to go tell the guy’s son. That was a sh**ty end to the night.”
3. Sad.
“Sometimes the calls that stick with you aren’t the most physically traumatic.
I once had a call from a 17 year old kid who came home from a sleepover to find that his mother had moved. Just packed up his sister and everything in the house and left while he was gone with no forwarding address or information. She also turned off his cell phone that morning so literally the only number he could call was 911.
He was trying so hard not to cry and his voice was shaking as he kept apologizing to me for calling 911. He just didn’t know what else to do and had no other family.
She also took everything so all he had was a couple of things that he had taken to the friends house. He told me his 18th birthday was in a couple of weeks and he literally had nothing.
The officers that responded took him to a shelter. I think about him often and I hope he’s ok. Even if he was a kid who got in trouble or had behavioral issues, I can’t imagine coming home to find your mother has abandoned you.”
4. Terrible.
“We got a call from an 8 year old who said his big brother was in the bathroom and hadn’t been out for an hour and there was no sound.
He broke the door open somehow while he was on the phone with us, and his brother was d**d from s**cide (hanging). This was small town and a year prior that same older brother had called in when the mom had committed s**cide herself on pills.
Hearing that kid cry will always haunt me. I decided not to become a 911 operator.”
5. Wow.
“S**cide calls where the caller has no interest in seeking help but just wanting the police to find them before their family does.
Knowing you’re likely the last person to speak to someone and there’s nothing you can do to help is pretty rough.”
6. Can’t imagine.
“Got a 911 call with just screaming. Nothing intelligible, just the loudest screaming you’ve ever heard. I started officers to the house.
Then a kid started yelling that her uncle was trying to k**l her, her sister, and her grandmother. She started screaming again, there was a thud, and then no more sound.
Officers got there and a man walked out into the driveway and said, “I did it. I k**led them.”
He was mentally ill and lived with his mother. She had been trying to get him committed, with doctors saying he wasn’t a danger to himself or others. His 9 year old twin nieces were visiting from out of state.
He snapped that morning. Bludgeoned them all with blunt objects, including a large vase. His mom and one niece d**d. One twin survived with extensive injuries. It was a horrifying call.”
7. OD.
“This past Mother’s Day, I had a teenage boy calling because he found his mother overdosed and d**d.
The sobbing as he called out “mom! Mom!” still makes me tear up.”
8. Intruder.
“Family member worked as police dispatcher. Received a call from an elderly woman. Her husband had just been k**led in their garage by an intruder.
She heard it happening. She’s wheelchair bound but phone was next to her. She frantically begged my family member to help her. While he was on the phone with her the criminal cut her throat. My family member stayed on the line three more minutes until cops got there.
He could hear the sounds of the attack, her gasping and gurgling noises. He kept telling her help was coming and to hold on. Amazingly, she survived. Criminal was later caught. A 17 year old who just wanted the thrill of k**ling someone and picked them at random.
He’s on D**th Row now.”
9. Awful.
“Lady calls in, she stopped to visit elderly couple she knew because she had not heard from them.
The elderly man had dementia.
Apparently his wife d**d in her sleep days before and he didn’t realize and had been getting in bed with her nightly.”
10. Fire.
“Mother of 4 called in saying the trailer was on fire and her bedroom door was locked from the outside.
I could hear her kids screaming and coughing in the background. I asked her if she could open a window, but they were nailed shut for some reason. Then we had her shove blankets under the door to stop the smoke from coming in before the fire department gets out there.
After about 5 min the coughing d**s down and she stops responding to me. Nothing at all. Then the fire department comes over the line saying the homeowner came out and that no one else was inside so we could slow the ambulance. We kept telling them we’re on the phone with people inside but they assured us there was not.
Eventually they pulled the people out, mother and 2 of the kids d**d. The man who came out was letting this family stay with him and he torched it and left them in there.”
11. Scarred.
“A woman called on her husband while they were fighting, she was screaming saying he was in the room and had a g** and wasn’t sure if he was going to shoot her or himself.
Seconds later I hear a g** shot and blood curdling screaming. I asked who had been shot and she said he shots himself in the head.
Impossible to get that 1 minute of chaos out of my head and it was months ago.”
Have you ever received a disturbing phone call?
If so, tell us about it in the comments!
Thanks a lot!
